I honestly don't think this book should be classed as a romance. It was one of the most soul-crushing romances I've ever read, outside of Thomas Hardy's oeuvre. You see, the "hero", Tristan, brutally destroys the heroine's life, spirit and will to live, pretty much in that order. At the end of the book, I just felt really badly for the heroine and I was left praying that she could move on from Tristan to find someone who truly loved and appreciated her.

I actually kind of dig alphahole heroes, for sure, but there has to be a good grovel at the end of the book. And there was *no* grovel AT ALL in this book, even after the hero basically ripped the heroine's self-esteem and dignity into flimsy, confetti shreds. Like, even as he does worse and worse things to the heroine (because he had a crappy childhood, *eyeroll*), there was barely any acknowledgement from him that he regretted what he was doing. And at the end of the book -- and this is after the hero has been verbally abusive, cold, horrible and left the heroine bleeding and alone in the hospital after a traumatizing miscarriage -- the heroine actually apologizes to him. TO HIM. For not having enough faith in him or something, I DON'T KNOW. At that point, I felt like I needed a shower and if I hadn't been reading the book on my iPhone, I would thrown the whole thing against the wall.

So, yeah. I do have strong feelings about this book, mostly anger. I think India Grey writes wonderfully, but this hero of hers was a little too dark and sociopathic for my taste. ( )